


A Matter of Pride and Prejudice

by kingoriginal



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 13:04:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7575034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingoriginal/pseuds/kingoriginal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Do you think yourself handsome, Mr. Lightwood?” Wayland asks, and it takes Alexander a moment to realize the man is talking to him. He doesn’t respond right away, raising a skeptical eyebrow that the other takes as a sign to go on. “This whole sickness issue seems like a ploy of the ladies to have you as our guest. My cousin thinks you to be…charming, some country ruggedness she’s fond of or something of the sort.” </p><p>          For once Alexander is at lost for words, gaping for a moment at the boldness of the question so casually thrown at him, the next his hazel eyes are rising defiantly to meet those of Jonathan Wayland. It is the first time he realizes the man’s eyes are mismatched in color, one clear blue and one brown, finding beauty in them fortunately isn’t enough to deter him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Matter of Pride and Prejudice

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as part of an AU challenge that asked for a Pride and Prejudice jalec piece. I was supposed to do only five headcanons, but my love for this story turned it into something a little bigger that that. For more of my writing and other AUs feel free to visit my blog.

          It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. Or at least that’s what Maryse Lightwood believed in, and, once the woman put something in her head it was virtually impossible to change her mind.

          The Lightwoods were a well known family in the small country town of Idris, but that was about the only place where their name amounted to something. Robert Lightwood, Maryse’s husband and head of the family, was blessed with two male heirs, and not nearly enough of a fortune to leave them both a comfortable inheritance while giving his daughter an acceptable dowry. Thus Maryse’s concerns for marrying her children were founded. 

          Isabelle, their daughter, was known all across Idris not only for her striking looks, but also for her fiery personality. _God wouldn’t make her so beautiful for nothing,_ Maryse would say, having her sons and daughter well set in life seemingly her only concern. 

          Alexander, her eldest son and heir to the Lightwood name, didn’t share his mother’s concerns, accepting of the fact he would probably end up married to some dazzled girl out of duty and duty alone. Meanwhile, the eldest Lightwood boy was also of a mind that his sister should marry when and whom she wanted, out of love, if she so wishes, and quite vocal about his beliefs. 

 _“Life isn’t about what you want,”_ his mother would chide him in such occasions,  _“It is about what must be done.”_  

             Together Alec and his sister fended off whatever suitors Maryse would thrust upon Isabelle, the whole thing becoming almost a game to the pair as their younger brother Maxwell was far too young to partake in their amusement. This time Maryse’s interest was peaked by a new arrival that had half the town in uproar. 

             Netherfield park had been let at last. One of the richest properties in Idris, acquired by a young man named Mr. Lewis, worth over five thousand a year. Their mother wouldn’t stop talking about it, all but throwing Robert out of the house so he could introduce himself to Izzy’s oblivious suitor.

             For once, even his sister is curious to hear about the newest arrival, wondering if Mr. Lewis is a handsome man. Meanwhile, Alexander couldn’t be more skeptical,  _“For five thousand a year? He could have warts and mother would still want you to marry him.”_

             Isabelle’s curiosity is quenched by the end of that very week as the whole family, sans Max, sets off to a ball in honor of their new neighbor, courtesy of their friend Lord Starkweather. Simon Lewis is there, unsurprisingly, along with a young lady named Clarissa Morgenstern and a distinct looking friend that has Maryse’s eyes twinkling for a moment, Mr. Wayland. 

             The young man is said to own a fortune even greater than his friend’s, half of all Derbyshire to his name, and Alec can see his mother planning to introduce Isabelle to the poor sod even before he excuses himself from listening to her machinations. To Maryse’s eternal vexing, however, Isabelle seems to have taken a liking to Simon Lewis after all, pairing up with him for two dances in a row. It would seem Mr. Wayland’s ten thousand a year were not too tempting after all.

          Alexander himself excuses himself from dancing, turning down the only two ladies that dare ask him with as much politeness as he can while looking for his dearest friend, Lydia Branwell. The dislike for social activities of the kind seems to be the only thing he and the mysterious Mr. Wayland have in common. But while Alec’s reluctance derives from his inherent awkwardness in such situations (and a thoroughly concealed lack of attraction towards women), Wayland’s issue seems nothing but petty, as Alec overhears the man speaking to Lady Clarissa.

 _“Go on then, have your fun,”_ he urges his friend Mr. Lewis in an interlude between songs, _“I’m better off here, as no one in the room is handsome enough to tempt me. You have the attention of the only pretty girl in town, enjoy her smiles.”_  

          The eye roll, as discreet as it is, can’t be helped, same as Alec can’t avoid the conclusion he sourly relates to Lydia: If Mr. Wayland does own half of Derbyshire as they say, it ought to be the miserable half. 

* * *

 

          Much to Alexander’s dismay the Starkweather ball isn’t the last he has to see of the new arrivals to Idris. Mr. Lewis is clearly enamored with his sister, something Maryse won’t let any of them forget, and his mother’s scheming have Izzy travelling to Netherfield on **horseback** , during a thunderstorm of all things, to dine with Lady Clarissa. 

 _“At least if she dies,”_ Alec bitterly tells his mother, _“You will have the comfort of knowing it was in the pursue of Mr. Lewis.”_  

          It takes only till morning for news to arrive of the predictable outcome of such a convoluted plan. Isabelle has fallen ill with a cold and Simon Lewis insists she remains in Netherfield to be treated. Maryse is over herself with joy and Alec, in turn, feels like he has no choice but to head there and watch over his sister as she would be otherwise alone at the house of a single man. 

          With Isabelle having taken his horse Alexander has no choice but to walk, and he doesn’t mind doing so either, but his boots are positively covered in mud by the time he makes it to the drawing room in Netherfield. Lady Clarissa and Mr. Wayland stand to his arrival, and he has the decency of paying courtesy to the lady and apologizing for the mess of his feet before asking about his sister. 

          It’s Wayland that tells him Isabelle is upstairs before Clarissa can even speak and Alec is as surprised as the man himself, offering a hasty ‘thank you’ before heading for the stairs looking for Isabelle. 

 _“Do you think he walked all the way here?”_ Clary asks her cousin once the man in question is out of their sights and no longer privy to their conversation. 

 _“I think he has,”_ Jonathan Wayland can’t help but to concede, paying the fact much more thought that he knows he ought to. 

          Now Izzy, on the other hand, doesn’t look too awfully ill to Alec, not with the amount of time she spends giggling in Clarissa’s company. Meanwhile Alexander is forced to spend most of his time alongside the other two gentleman, struggling not to roll his eyes as Mr. Lewis stutters through compliments to his sister and enduring the blunt weight of Mr. Wayland’s silence. 

          The stoic blonde does talk, mostly when the ladies are around, but at those times Alec often sees himself sucked into their conversation and games, his attention commanded by his sister and her newest _friend_. The first time they do talk to one another, Mr. Wayland and him, comes after the ladies have just left them in order to take a turn around the gardens, or something of the sort. 

 _“Do you think yourself handsome, Mr. Lightwood?”_ Wayland asks, and it takes Alexander a moment to realize the man is talking to him. He doesn’t respond right away, raising a skeptical eyebrow that the other takes as a sign to go on.  _“This whole sickness issue seems like a ploy of the ladies to have you as our guest. My cousin thinks you to be…charming, some country ruggedness she’s fond of or something of the sort.”_  

          For once Alexander is at lost for words, gaping for a moment at the boldness of the question so casually thrown at him, the next his hazel eyes are rising defiantly to meet those of Jonathan Wayland. It is the first time he realizes the man’s eyes are mismatched in color, one clear blue and one brown, finding beauty in them fortunately isn’t enough to deter him.

 _“I would not presume to judge the whims and opinions of a distinguished lady such as your cousin,”_ Alexander explains, closing the book he had on his lap after carefully marking the page,  _“I certainly can assure you that I’m not part of any ploy, if that’s your concern.”_

 _“Humble as you might sound, you haven’t answered my question,”_ Mr. Wayland admonished, and Alec’s hazel eyes glinted as they narrowed, noticing the attention the gentleman payed them for once and not helping but being reminded of his words back at the ball. 

 _“No, I do not find myself particularly handsome,”_ he answered at last, vexed by the very fact the other seemed bent in making him admit it, _“Certainly not enough to be **tempting**.”  _

          There was a glimmer of surprised recognition in Jonathan Wayland’s mismatched eyes at his words, a satisfying one, and in sight of it Alexander couldn’t help the smirk to his lips as he placed his book aside and rose to his feet with a stiff courtesy. _“If you’ll excuse me.”_

* * *

 

          Their stay at Netherfield was extended for nearly a week before Alec could convince Isabelle to leave, the promise of a ball in her honor the only thing that finally settled his sister. Already Mr. Lewis was bending to her whims and Alexander knew of not one path as effective to his sister’s heart quite as that one.

          A carriage was ordered by Simon to bring them home and the whole party of his friends gathered to see them off, Mr. Wayland included. Alec did his best to avoid the man, but it would be rude not to part properly and so he saw himself offering his hand to him. Their fingers slid together in a brief handshake that had their eyes meeting at last, both men held in a suspended moment before Alexander pulled his own hand free with a whispered goodbye. 

          Jonathan flexed his fingers on his way back inside, still feeling them tingling for the touch. By the porch Simon and Clary remained waving at the carriage as it moved further from the house. _Fools_ , the young man thought them, cursing the fact this would hardly be the last he saw of the Lightwood siblings. 

 _“You like him,”_  Alec accused Isabelle as soon as their carriage was out of the Netherfield gates. _“You like Mr. Lewis and his five thousand a year. Mother will be pleased.”_

 _“His money has nothing to do with my opinion of him,”_ his sister chided, slapping at his arm. The fact she didn’t deny the core of his accusations was telling enough. After so many broken hearts in her wake, Izzy finally found one she was willing to settle for. _“Do you think he likes me?”_ she asked at last, sounding far shier than she had any right to, a clink in her usually confided facade Alec was blessed to bare witness to now and then. 

 _“I think he’d be a fool not to be already in love with you,”_ he acceded with a smile. 

          Mr. Wayland was a proud bigot, for all Alec cared, but he would gladly endure the man’s occasional presence for his sister’s happiness. In fact, there were few things Alec wouldn’t do for it. 

 _“What do you think of Mr. Lewis’ friend, Lady Clarissa?”_ Izzy asked as they neared home, the dreaded question Alexander was afraid to have to deflect. _“I know you don’t usually take a fancy for anybody, but she’s very pretty and she- Well you might have noticed she took a fancy to you. It would be a nice match, you know? You and Clary.”_

Truly Alexander supposed it would, if only he could bring himself to care for her pretty dresses and large doe eyes. As it was, however, Alec saw himself thinking much more of chiseled jaws and strong shoulders, something more to the tune of Lady Clary’s cousin, even if the man was a proud asshole. 

 _“I don’t think I would make her happy, Izzy,”_ he confessed quietly, it was as much as he was willing to admit. Isabelle however looked pained and knowing, stretching over the gap between their seats to take hold of his hand and squeeze it tight.  _  
_

_“I only care about finding someone that will make you happy,”_ she vowed fiercely, making Alexander smile as his hand turned in order to hold hers back.  _  
_

_“Well I don’t suppose such person exists,”_ he smirked, lightening up the mood as their neared the entrance to their own property. 

_“Who knows? Maybe cousin Preston can forgive you for breaking his nose back when we were little.”_

          The statement made him pause, Izzy’s eyes attentive and her hold on his hand unrelenting as she waited for his reaction. They never talked about the fact Alec liked men, he had never told her on anyone else, still it was the way she found of letting him know she was okay with it- that she _knew_. It took a moment longer, but Alec broke out last, letting out a laugh before pushing the door to their carriage open, pulling Isabelle out with a flourish. 

          She couldn’t help but notice it was the first time she had heard him laugh in quite a while. 


End file.
